We went on a field trip

Hello,

We finally went on a scheduled field trip.  The State House was very good.  We got to visit the House of Representatives, the Hall of Flags, the Senate and Rotunda.  Although, judging by the amount of talk it generated, I think going through security might of been the highlight for many students.  My pocket knife keychain was confiscated.  I forgot to take that off my keys this morning.  It went a lot better than when I forgot about it while attempting to enter the Pentagon in D.C. 

We also went to the Maine State Museum.  Our time was too short there.  We suffered from spending too much time leaving HBS.  Part of that was our underestimation of how many can fit on a special education bus.  Thank you so much to our chaperones.  I'm sorry that most of you had to drive.  Know that I really appreciate it. 

You should have got a conference sign up sheet by now.  Those of you who sent one back will get your conference times tomorrow.  I will sign people up for half hour blocks.  Twenty minutes is too short and I tend to gab.  Please feel free to stop me at twenty minutes, if you prefer. 

I showed the class what the presidential electoral map would have looked like if we had to follow the 1789 version of the Constitution.  If only white males had the right to vote in our country, Romney would have won by a landslide.  If the voting age hadn't been lowered to 18 in the early seventies, Obama would have squeaked out a win.  I thought they were interesting graphics and good topics for discussion.

In The Cay, our read aloud, poor Timothy didn't survive the horrible tempest.  We had recess right after the death of our brave hero, so I didn't get much feedback.  It is a tough thing to read without crying though.  I barely made it through.  Timothy is a great man in that book.  His positive attitude, eye for the future and ability to teach tough lessons to Philip, make him one of my favorite book characters. 

It will be a late blog tomorrow.  I have a staff meeting and I'm attending a Bowdoin basketball practice.  Basketball is one of my passions, so if it goes late, well then so will the blog.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea